A lightning-fast track greeted Meridian Speedway as the quarter-mile oval celebrated Friday night’s Tom Elliott Sportsman Classic. The Royal Purple Northwest Sprintcar Racing Association Winged Sprintcars, Westcoast Vintage Sprintcars, and Kendall Ford of Meridian Mini Stocks opened the weekend’s double-header with a full night of racing action.
The Westcoast Vintage Sprintcars kicked off racing action with a twelve lap B Feature. Chilliwack, British Columbia racer Alan Levine raced his way to the early lead while Spokane, Washington’s John Coogan planted his machine in the outside line and rocketed through the field to the runner up spot on lap four. At the race’s halfway point Coogan caught Levine and motored his way to the lead. Boise, Idaho’s Dave Skyberg followed Coogan’s lead and roared to second on the white flag lap, but ran out of time to track down Coogan, who claimed the checkered flag.
The Kendall Ford of Meridian Mini Stocks brought fifteen strong machines to their 35 lap feature. On the green Nampa, Idaho’s Mike Vester jammed his Discount Tire, Fastway by Promoto Billett machine into the low line and moved from his second row starting spot to the lead. Pole sitter Josh Jackson moved Vester out of the top spot on lap two, but was quickly under siege from Meridian, Idaho’s Terrell Daffron, who worked his Bob Hosier State Farm, Gilmore Meats entry free of the pack and passed Jackson for the lead on lap ten.
Behind the lead battle, second place point runner Jayson Wardle wheeled his Blohm’s Family Deli, Perfectly Posh racer into the third spot, desperate to chop into rival Jason Sanders’ point lead. While Wardle worried about Sanders, Boise, Idaho racer Mike Davis piloted his Bigelow Teas, DBI Speedshop machine below Kuna, Idaho’s Wardle to relieve him of the third position. A midrace caution for a Jackson spin put Davis outside of leader Daffron with Wardle and Vester in row number two.
Daffron wasted no time taking the lead back, and Wardle followed Daffron past Davis to take second. Now it was Sanders on the move as the veteran campaigner moved his Divel Services, Excel Concrete Construction racer into the lead pack and used a late caution to pull to Wardle’s rear bumper. Wardle felt the pressure and gave Daffron everything he had in the race’s final twelve laps, but Daffron countered every advance and took the win.
Another fast group of Westcoast Vintage Sprintcars roared back onto the quarter-mile for a fifteen lap A Feature. On the green Colbert, Washington’s Jeff Cook put his machine out front in turns one and two, but John Dahl powered past Cook to lead the first lap. First to challenge Dahl was Bob Willis, who searched high and low for a way to take the race lead. With three laps left Willis’ machine faded and Marty White blasted past to the runner up spot. White pulled to Dahl’s tail tank on the white flag lap, but didn’t have enough to unseat Dahl, who powered to the checkers.
Before the Royal Purple NSRA Winged Sprintcar main event, the Tom Elliott Sportsmanship Award was presented to Veneta, Oregon racer Mitch Holte. Fittingly, Holte was working on a competitor’s machine when the announcement was made.
“I didn’t expect that,” Holte said of his award.
With pre-race ceremonies complete a dozen Royal Purple NSRA Winged Sprintcars roared to life for a forty lap main event. On the green Robert Beck overpowered Nampa, Idaho’s Mike Anderson to take the lead on lap one. Next past Anderson was Matt Hein, who pinned his Coast-line West Insulation, Independent Motor Rebuilders machine to the outside line and marched toward the lead. Early in the going quick qualifier Robbie Price’s Shark Racing Engines, Taylor Metal Craft entry lost power and the Cobblehill, British Columbia racer fell back to seventh in the running order.
On the move through the race’s first half was Bryan Warf, who wheeled his Dave’s Quick Lube, Oxarc Welding sprinter from a mid-pack starting spot to fourth on the Pepsi-Cola scoreboard on lap fifteen. Warf wasn’t done there as he set to work on Anderson’s Bender Electric, Adaptive Graphics machine for the third spot. At the race’s halfway mark Warf sat third and was running the fastest laps of any racer on the track.
Those fast laps paid off for Warf, who closed the gap on second place Hein. Warf had just latched onto Hein’s tail tank when Salt Lake City, Utah’s Mel Andrus experienced a mechanical failure and pounded the turn three concrete. Andrus climbed from his machine under his own power, but his race weekend was over. The restart put Hein to Beck’s outside with Warf and Kyle Alberding side-by-side in row two.
On the restart Beck pinched Hein to the front stretch wall, but Hein kept his foot hard down and the Roseburg, Oregon racer flew past Beck to the lead. Warf followed Hein’s lead and took the runner up spot one lap later before he made a desperate dash toward the leader. Try as Warf might he couldn’t track down Hein, who piloted his sprinter into the Caleb’s Chop Shop Winner’s Circle.
“It’s fun racing with Robert and Bryan,” Hein said. “Bryan was probably the faster car…I was just waiting for [Warf] to sneak underneath me like he always seems to.”
Buhl, Idaho’s Stacey Jensen claimed the CT400 Winged Sprintcar championship in his YMC, Westside Body Works machine.
“I want to keep this class going,” Jensen said. “It’s affordable and a lot of fun.”
Saturday night crowns the Royal Purple NSRA Winged Sprtincar, NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Modified, Teleperformance Claimer Stock, and Junior Stinger champions and features the Westcoast Vintage Sprintcars. General admission for Saturday night’s full slate of championship action is just $15.50 for adults, $6.50 for kids 7-11. Gates open at 4 p.m. with qualifying at 5 p.m. and championship races go green at 6:30 p.m. Skip the line at the gates and purchase your tickets online at meridianspeedway.com and text ‘meridianspeed’ to 84483 to receive exclusive updates from around the track affectionately known as the concrete jungle. We’ll see you Saturday night under the big yellow water tower at Meridian Speedway.
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